Bahrain’s Nogaholding and Germany’s Schmidt Heilbronn have opened a joint venture logistics centre in Bahrain Logistics Zone.

Known as Schmidt Logistics Bahrain, the $20m facility will create around 100 direct and indirect jobs in the logistics sector.

“Our new facility will have a significant positive impact on the regional chemical and petrochemical industries and facilitate quicker and easier transportation of goods around the GCC. Through our partnership with Schmidt we are proud to have supported the establishment of this facility, and will continue to provide support for its operations in the future,” Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa, Minister of Oil and chairman of nogaholding.

Schmidt Logistics Bahrain will support Bahrain Logistics Zone’s expanding operations, particularly in the chemical and petrochemical logistics market. The zone has been established to offer competitive set up and operational rates, specialised services for import and export and re-export activities, efficient turnaround times and close proximity to transportation hubs such as the Khalifa bin Salman Port and Bahrain International Airport.

“The manufacturing and logistics sector is one of the strongest in the kingdom and Bahrain attracted more than $200m of investment into this sector in the first half of the year - investments that will create more than 1,000 jobs over the next three years. Joint investments such as Schmidt Logistics Bahrain enable the growth of this world-class industry and attract companies with specialised expertise and operational skills to Bahrain to support the supply chain, creating high-quality employment opportunities for the local market,” says Khalid al-Rumaihi, chief executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).

Nogaholding is the investment and business development arm of National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) in Bahrain.